Coach Keeler started taking about the last game vs. Delaware State, and as we all figured out by the result, he considers DSU to be in a "transition period." However, his take on the game was all about Delaware trying to improve and in his opinion, he saw "tremendous progress." Coach Keeler also considered this to be the team's "best week of practice in 10 years" that he has been coaching the Hens, which really says something about the work effort they put into the game. On the defensive side of the ball, he brought up the stat of holding the Hornets to 0-for-10 on 3rd downs and pitching a shutout. Offensively, he mentioned Tim Donnelly's day going 13-for-14 in the air and thought that they "ran the ball well with AP [Andrew Pierce]" vs. Delaware State. With all that said, Keeler did talk about needing to keep improving as they have 8 straight CAA opponents coming up on their schedule.
After last week's performance from Donnelly, there has been lots of debate as to who is at the top of the depth chart and the Blue Hens coach did nothing to change that. Here is what Keeler said here:
When asked about the defense and if there are still questions to be answered on that side of the ball, Coach Keeler again talked about how they played a team in transition that was "not as far along as other teams we're going to play coming up," so there are still questions out there. Keeler was happy with seeing the consistency of his defense, specifically the alignment and assignments when it came to tackling. He also talked about how they simplified the secondary so that the players could stop thinking and start playing more, which makes a ton of sense because of the inexperience of the defensive backs, but coming from a fan, I am worried about this unit against more aerial-based CAA teams and if their schemes are too simple for the league. Having Jake Giusti back was also key for the Hens as it gave them a veteran in the backfield to help the youthful players. Then, Keeler quickly hit on the Old Dominion for a second, talking about how they will be an entirely different test and the size of their offensive line will be a challenge.
When asked to give his team a 3-game progress report, Coach Keeler was pleased with the progress from this last game, but brought Navy back up and how he was disappointed in the drops and fumbles which ended up affecting the defense in that contest. In his opinion, against West Chester, the Hens "didn't play down, they just didn't play well." In my opinion, they look like the same thing. He talked about them being in "search mode" at that point, but the team looked more like they were in "playoff mode" this week during practice. Keeler feels that the team is not nearly where he needs them to be just yet, but the progress he has seen does make him feel "more at ease" going into the CAA slate.
Speaking of the Conference of Death (I say this in difficulty/soccer terms, not hatefully), When Coach Keeler was asked about if his first CAA opponent, Old Dominion, reminded him of anyone, he replied, "I think they remind me of Old Dominion." He was impressed that they have established something there in Norfolk and mentioned their athletes on offense and how their defensive line is right there with the rest of the conference. He also said something about how they have not been surprising so far this year. I think he meant that as in their success (the Monarchs went 3-0 in their non-conference play) has not been a surprise, but for a second, I thought he might have meant that Delaware knows exactly what it is getting when ODU comes to town. Wouldn't that be nice if the coaching staff was already that confident in their matchup on a Monday.
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Old Dominion Head Coach Bobby Wilder (audio here) was thrilled that his team pulled off the victory last week vs. Hampton after getting "punched in the mouth" and being down early, then battling back after having a few turnovers to find a way to pull out the victory. Wilder said that this was the "worst we've played against the best opponent" that they have faced so far in the season, and was clearly ecstatic that his team held strong in a close game.
Coach Wilder played football at Maine and has coached for them as well, so he has tons of experience being in Newark, but nothing will be quite like the first time he takes his Monarchs to Delaware Stadium, even saying he was "not happy at all, to be honest with you," about having the Blue Hens as their first CAA opponent. He did say that there was no easy team to play in this league and that someone had to be first, but he brought up Delaware's home record from last season and their appearance in Frisco which makes this matchup extremely undesirable. The Monarchs have been generating large crowds down in Norfolk and Coach Wilder is looking to see how his team reacts to that noise on the road. The key part here is that Wilder believes that in order for his team to win, they are "going to need help from Delaware," going as far as to say it twice. He gets that this will be a tough matchup and seems like he is expecting a loss if the Hens play a perfect offensive game for a second straight week.
Coach Wilder also talked about his construction of the program how they are much like Delaware in that both teams are in non-major sports areas (I beg to differ being this close to Philadephia) with the ability to recruit a great local base and get the support of the surrounding population. Lastly, when asked about his non-conference grade, Coach WIlder was happy that his team has gained a ton of experience and that the most important thing is that they won all three games, but is not happy that his team did not play well in their last game.
From these interviews, it is clear that there is work to be done by the Hens and that all questions still have not been answered, including at quarterback. They have the confidence in their progression and are making the right strides. Old Dominion is coming off of a struggle against Hampton and Coach Wilder seems to be going into the game with the assumption that they will lose without any Delaware mistakes. A new opponent is never easy for either team, so I am not going to write this off just yet.
After last week's performance from Donnelly, there has been lots of debate as to who is at the top of the depth chart and the Blue Hens coach did nothing to change that. Here is what Keeler said here:
"See I have no rules. I mean, people say you can't do the job, I have no rules. I just make the best decision that's going to be for this team. So I'll just make whatever the best decision is for this team and in the hopes that we can go win a ball game. The great news is that I think i have two pretty good quarterbacks that can play in the league, and I don't think a lot of guys in this league have two quarterbacks that can play at this level, so that's the exciting thing. I really like what Timmy did, excited that Trevor is getting healthy, hopefully Trevor is going to practice on Tuesday, so it gives us a great dilemma to have, and trust me i do not consider that a dilemma. We'll just see how practice goes, we'll figure it out and I'll start the guy who I think is ready to play and help us win." -K.C. Keeler, on the quarterback situationWay to bring clarity to the situation, Coach. In my opinion, this is up there with not saying who the starter was until he took the field for Navy. You have to feel for Sasek in this situation because he won the job, got hurt, and now may have to win in back in practice yet again. At the same time, Donnelly was outstanding vs. Delaware State, and I can see how it would be hard to bench a guy that just completed 13-of-14 passes. My money is that Trevor Sasek is still out, but it will be interesting to see if he is dressed this week as the backup (not that Burns did not do his job in the second half, but he's not Trevor or Tim).
When asked about the defense and if there are still questions to be answered on that side of the ball, Coach Keeler again talked about how they played a team in transition that was "not as far along as other teams we're going to play coming up," so there are still questions out there. Keeler was happy with seeing the consistency of his defense, specifically the alignment and assignments when it came to tackling. He also talked about how they simplified the secondary so that the players could stop thinking and start playing more, which makes a ton of sense because of the inexperience of the defensive backs, but coming from a fan, I am worried about this unit against more aerial-based CAA teams and if their schemes are too simple for the league. Having Jake Giusti back was also key for the Hens as it gave them a veteran in the backfield to help the youthful players. Then, Keeler quickly hit on the Old Dominion for a second, talking about how they will be an entirely different test and the size of their offensive line will be a challenge.
When asked to give his team a 3-game progress report, Coach Keeler was pleased with the progress from this last game, but brought Navy back up and how he was disappointed in the drops and fumbles which ended up affecting the defense in that contest. In his opinion, against West Chester, the Hens "didn't play down, they just didn't play well." In my opinion, they look like the same thing. He talked about them being in "search mode" at that point, but the team looked more like they were in "playoff mode" this week during practice. Keeler feels that the team is not nearly where he needs them to be just yet, but the progress he has seen does make him feel "more at ease" going into the CAA slate.
Speaking of the Conference of Death (I say this in difficulty/soccer terms, not hatefully), When Coach Keeler was asked about if his first CAA opponent, Old Dominion, reminded him of anyone, he replied, "I think they remind me of Old Dominion." He was impressed that they have established something there in Norfolk and mentioned their athletes on offense and how their defensive line is right there with the rest of the conference. He also said something about how they have not been surprising so far this year. I think he meant that as in their success (the Monarchs went 3-0 in their non-conference play) has not been a surprise, but for a second, I thought he might have meant that Delaware knows exactly what it is getting when ODU comes to town. Wouldn't that be nice if the coaching staff was already that confident in their matchup on a Monday.
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Old Dominion Head Coach Bobby Wilder (audio here) was thrilled that his team pulled off the victory last week vs. Hampton after getting "punched in the mouth" and being down early, then battling back after having a few turnovers to find a way to pull out the victory. Wilder said that this was the "worst we've played against the best opponent" that they have faced so far in the season, and was clearly ecstatic that his team held strong in a close game.
Coach Wilder played football at Maine and has coached for them as well, so he has tons of experience being in Newark, but nothing will be quite like the first time he takes his Monarchs to Delaware Stadium, even saying he was "not happy at all, to be honest with you," about having the Blue Hens as their first CAA opponent. He did say that there was no easy team to play in this league and that someone had to be first, but he brought up Delaware's home record from last season and their appearance in Frisco which makes this matchup extremely undesirable. The Monarchs have been generating large crowds down in Norfolk and Coach Wilder is looking to see how his team reacts to that noise on the road. The key part here is that Wilder believes that in order for his team to win, they are "going to need help from Delaware," going as far as to say it twice. He gets that this will be a tough matchup and seems like he is expecting a loss if the Hens play a perfect offensive game for a second straight week.
Coach Wilder also talked about his construction of the program how they are much like Delaware in that both teams are in non-major sports areas (I beg to differ being this close to Philadephia) with the ability to recruit a great local base and get the support of the surrounding population. Lastly, when asked about his non-conference grade, Coach WIlder was happy that his team has gained a ton of experience and that the most important thing is that they won all three games, but is not happy that his team did not play well in their last game.
From these interviews, it is clear that there is work to be done by the Hens and that all questions still have not been answered, including at quarterback. They have the confidence in their progression and are making the right strides. Old Dominion is coming off of a struggle against Hampton and Coach Wilder seems to be going into the game with the assumption that they will lose without any Delaware mistakes. A new opponent is never easy for either team, so I am not going to write this off just yet.
Very disappointing shot you took at our current backup in Burns. From what I have seen the kid is a player but is behind only in experience.
ReplyDeleteIt was not a shot at Burns. What I meant by saying he was not Tim or Trevor is the experience and current skill. He did great in the relief effort, but there are two quarterbacks on this team that are obviously ahead of him. What I am looking for is if Trevor dresses as the #2, or only comes back as the starter.
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